Direct and Reported Speech Constructions in the Amuric Languages

This article examines speech reporting strategies in two endangered Amuric languages, Nivkh and Nighvng, spoken on Sakhalin Island and in the Amur region of Russia. It explores direct and reported speech constructions, as well as their interaction in narratives. While the distinction between direct and indirect speech is generally clear, some reported speech constructions structurally resemble direct speech more than others. Direct speech typically consists of an introductory clause with a reporting verb, followed by a quotation. Amuric languages feature multiple speech verbs with varying frequencies in texts. Reported speech constructions are mostly multi-clausal and fall into five structural types. The defining feature of some of them is a special reportative subject marker. Multi-clausal constructions differ between Nivkh and Nighvng, while monoclausal reports, marked by a reportative clitic on the finite verb, are similar in both. In narratives, both strategies can co-occur within the same report but not within a single clause.